Geller J, Samson L, Maiolino N, Iyar MM, Kelly AC, Srikameswaran S. Self-compassion and its barriers: predicting outcomes from inpatient and residential eating disorders treatment.
J Eat Disord 2022;
10:114. [PMID:
35933458 PMCID:
PMC9357312 DOI:
10.1186/s40337-022-00640-8]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Individuals with eating disorders (EDs) experience barriers to self-compassion, with two recently identified in this population: Meeting Standards, or concerns that self-compassion would result in showing flaws or lead to loss of achievements or relationships, and Emotional Vulnerability, or concerns that self-compassion would elicit difficult emotions such as grief or anger. This exploratory study examined the utility of self-compassion and two barriers to self-compassion in predicting clinical outcomes in intensive ED treatments.
METHOD
Individuals in inpatient (n = 87) and residential (n = 68) treatment completed measures of self-compassion and fears of self-compassion, and ten clinical outcome variables at pre- and post-treatment.
RESULTS
Pre-treatment self-compassion was generally not associated with outcomes, whereas pre-treatment self-compassion barriers generally were. In both treatment settings, fewer Emotional Vulnerability barriers were associated with improved interpersonal/affective functioning and quality of life, and fewer Meeting Standards barriers were associated with improved readiness and motivation. Interestingly, whereas Meeting Standards barriers were associated with less ED symptom improvement in inpatient treatment, Emotional Vulnerability barriers were associated with less ED symptom improvement in residential treatment.
CONCLUSIONS
Given that few longitudinal predictors of outcome have been established, the finding that pre-treatment barriers to self-compassion predict outcomes in both inpatient and residential settings is noteworthy. Targeting self-compassion barriers early in treatment may be helpful in facilitating ED recovery.
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